By Prem Chandran
The Left Democratic Front government headed by strongman Pinarayi Vijayan is obviously rattled in the face of massive street protests rejecting the line his government as also the LDF and more importantly the Supreme Court have taken in the matter of women entry to the Sabarimala Sree Ayyappa temple. What was thought to be an attempt to ensure equality of the sexes in worship has failed to enthuse the women devotees of Lord Ayyappa themselves, as is evident from the protests spilling into the streets town after town in the southern parts of Kerala.
Taken unawares, the LDF government is handling the matter with both caution and restraint. At the same time, it would now appear that the Communists have unwittingly given a platform for the BJP and other Hindu outfits to rally forces against the reds.
The decision by the Supreme Court to grant entry to women of all ages into Sabarimala, the seat of Lord Ayyappa, came from a division bench of the apex court shortly before Chief Justice Dipak Misra stepped down from office late last month. The existing practice was to disallow women of menstruating ages – between age 10 and 50 – to the hilltop temple or its precincts, based on arguments allowed by the Kerala high court in 1991; the reason cited being that the Lord is present in the temple in a celibate state and that the presence of young women in their menstruating age would not be to His liking and also affect the sanctity of the shrine.
The temple that traces its history to the 12th Century sits atop a cluster of 18 hills forming into dense forest. One of the largest pilgrimage centres in the world, the Lord Ayyappa shrine attracts an annual turnout of over 15million visitors in highly devotional mode.
The LDF governments in the state generally took the stand that all women should be allowed entry into Sabarimala and the shrine. They saw in it another grand design to promote the cause of equality – something that they had not been able to achieve in other fields of human activity despite long years of lip-service to the cause. Expectations were also that this would draw the support of women in larger numbers to the Communists. When the apex court order came, the government had glee on its face. Its stand had been vindicated. The tone was palpable in Chief Minister Vijayan’s stress that the government would do everything to implement the apex court order.
Within days, however, the scenario saw a dramatic change. Large numbers of women formed the vanguard of the protests against the apex court order, and began alleging that faith was facing a crisis. The southern districts of the state are faced with an upheaval of an unusual kind. The RSS that initially backed the apex court order quickly changed its tune; but not the LDF and its government. In a way, there was little it could do under the present circumstances. As the apex court had, in effect, ratified the government stand on Sabarimala through a court order, it would look odd if the government again approached the court with a review petition. Meanwhile, it also occurred to the Travancore Devaswom Board, a prop of the state government that governs large numbers of temples in southern districts, that it could not take a stand different from the government stand.
The situation was Advantage BJP, which claims to uphold the cause of the Hindus in specific. The party that tried hard to make a mark in the state could, even after the Modi wave across the nation, just about manage to get one seat in the 140-member state assembly in the 2016 elections. The party in the state is virtually rudderless after a credible figure like Kummanam Rajasekharan was moved to Mizoram as Governor a while ago. In a state where about half the population is Hindu and as much comprised Muslims and Christians, an electoral success is not easy for the saffron party. That’s possible only if there is a total unity of the Hindu forces – something that, till yesterday, was impossible and a mirage. Now, the LDF has handed down such a possibility on a platter to the BJP’s hands, though there still are very many if’s and but’s for a BJP upsurge in the state.
The Chief Minister is in a combative mood, though. At the height of the protest movement, he took a flight to the UAE Wednesday to collect contributions for the Chief Minister’s Flood Relief Fund, leaving it to his deputy and industries minister EP Jayarajan to tackle the matter. In other words, he sent out signals that he couldn’t care less for the protests. Jayarajan stated as much – that the protestst would fizzle out sooner than later.
All eyes on the present round of temple rituals in Sabarimala. The shrine opened Wednesday evening for the usual six-day rituals marking the Malayalam month of Thulam. The big question is, how many young women would dare to visit the hill shrine, backed by the green signal women got from the apex court to venture into sacred hills and its highly sanctified shrine. If the apex court refused to change its mind and dismisses the few review petitions that were already filed in the past few days, chances are that at least smaller numbers of young women would venture in there – if not during the present ritual days, then in the coming months. In due course, the protests could lose its steam.
Notably, the state government is handling the protests with restraint, in order to avoid turning the situation more grim and also avoid helping the BJP to take political advantage. Yet, fact is also that for the first time in the history of the state, the BJP has been able to create a stir of notable proportions. With this protest movement, the political history of Kerala might witness a major change and take a new direction. The influence of the reds might slowly be on the wane and of the BJP on the ascendant. The fight between those on the side of faith and those against faith are, as of now, heavily loaded in favour of the former. The street protests have demonstrated as much.